Improvement in pruning implements



. F. BETTER S BTH.

Mu ning imp E emens.

Patented Oct. 14, 1873L m, t n m A Nj! UNITEE STATES PATENT OFFICE ALEXANDER P. BETTERS-WORTH, OF CARLINVILLE, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN PRUNING IMPLEMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 143,659, dated October 14, 1873; application filed J une 23, 1873.

To all u'kom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER l?. BET- TERsWoRTH, of Garlinville, Macoupin county, State of Illinois, have invented a Pruning'- Hook, of which the followingis a specification:

My invention relates .to the class of pruning-hooks in which a hook and sliding knife are so arranged that their cutting-edges are made to approach each other by means of toggle or jointed levers, said effect being produced by a direct pulling or tractive force applied to the handle of the implement.

My object is toincrease the efficiency of such devices; and to that end it consists in the arrangement of double levers and a spiral spring, in connection with a cutting-hook and a chisel-cutter, adapted to slide on each other, said levers serving, by their extension, to operate the cutting devices, and the spring to retract and hold the same close together for renewing the cutting operation, as hereinafter described.

In the drawing the double leversf f are represented as pivoted at their inner ends to the sta or handle d, and to the levers g g at their outer ends. The latter are pivoted to- Y gether at their inner ends, and also to the The spiral shank of theV sliding cutter b. spring 7c connects the shank of the hook and the vertically opposite pivots of the levers ff.

The levers g g are connected with the shank c' of the hook a by means of headed pins t' t work-l ing in short slots. The opposite edges of the hook and cutter b are suitably beveled, and

the knife I) upward, as in Fig. 2, thus moving the cutting edges of a and b in opposite directions with ample force to sever any intervening twig or branch. The coil-sprin g 7c is so attached as to readjust the levers f f and g g with the cutter b after each and every stroke.

I claim as my inventionl. The combination, with the handle d, of the double levers f f and g y, the hook a provided with shank c, having a fulcrum connection with the levers g g at i t', and the sliding cutter b, all arranged as shown and described.

2. The combination of the spiral spring k, with the handle d, double levers f g, hook a, and sliding cutter b, as shown and described.

ALEXANDER I). BETTERSWORTH.

Witnesses:

JOHN T. RoGERs, NICHOLAS DUBors. 

